Stages of Construction
The Shed project has been on the cards for a long time, it is just one of those things that you hope to get to at some stage. The problem always is either you don't have enough money to do the project or if you got the money, then you just don't have enough time.
The AIM was to make the old shed
look more like this 
if only it could be that easy.!
The BOSS
For those of you that have traveled in this boat before, the only way things were going to progress is to have an approval from the "BOSS" also know as the wife as step one. Then it is just a matter of funding the project and getting time allocated to the project. Yes believe it or not, this can happen, in my case the trigger was a baby on the way and the lack of space for the new baby in the house prompted us to think about replacing the shed. The idea was to create as much space in the new shed as the two rooms of the house that have been allocated to be Harry's rooms.
So the SHED project has a green light status and all systems are GO. Looking back on the start of the project, I thought this was going to be easy, but so did the Americans when they tried to put a man on the moon. It is all the little things that catch you out. But never the less the project must go forward and be finished before Harry was born!!
The budget for the shed is an interesting question, as how much will it cost was always going to be hard to answer until it was all finished. As soon as you want something different than the normal kit shed, it all became too hard for the shed builders and they just didn't want to know you. The only difference I wanted from a standard shed was to have the hobby room a bit wider than the rest of the shed but with still the same roof line as the front part of the shed. This I thought was not too much to ask, well I was mistaken and no one wanted to even give you a quote.
This made the budget side of things harder with the only way to go was to get the shed drawn up and designed by an engineering firm. Once this was done, I could then cost the shed materials and make a guess at some of the labor component. The requirement for room left two options open, one was to have Dianne's hobby room at the end of the shed with cellar under the main shed part of the shed for Peter's hobby room. The other option was to just have a combined hobby room at the end of the shed. Since all the gear out of the two rooms of the house had to fit into the shed as well as the gear from the shed, the cellar option was looking very good. The cellar option was not going to be cheep, but it would be worth it long term. As it would keep all the electronic stuff cool during summer and warm during winter.
Well as I said earlier, the shed project has been on the cards for some time, it was just a matter of making it happen. So the old saving up for the shed has been going on for a few years. The budget was looking good even after the renovation job at my mum's house in Feb 2004. Then again how much could it cost, this is the question. The answer was that much!!!!! The only thing to do was to borrow some money to cover the short fall, only needed a few thousand and then some. With steel prices going up by more than %40 in the last year and contractors charging the earth for work just becasue there is just too much work around at the moment. In the end we figured out we could get enought money to build a once in a life time shed. :) Peter's Shed
The time frame was also very important, as I have 9 months and counting that I must be finished the shed. That is before the Baby turns up on the doorstep. The only thing was I was relying on various people like building contractors and councils to approve the development. Could it be done in time. The answer to that question was no, so many different delays just kept it from happening in time, but it was not without trying.
The shed project has gone through various phases of development, not all of the phase are complete as yet, but I hope soon they all will be. I have been asked by a number of people to make photos available. There is just too many photos to email out to everone. So the use of the local web server and a bit of time using some web page creation software and well here you have it. The Shed web site for Peter's shed, I should also mention Dianne hobby room as well. When you are looking at the pictures, I have made them smaller, but if you would like to see any picture bigger, ie in it's orginal size and format, just click on it. I only have a 128Kbps uplink, so it may take a little while for you get some of the larger images. I should say thanks to Scott for the use of his camera, as it does take nice photos.
The construction stages of the shed,
Phase 1 - Design, Engineering and Council approvals.
Phase 2 - Packing up all the stuff and finding a home for it. Then demolition of the OLD Shed
Phase 3 - Clearing the site, and digging the cellar and foundations. Construction of the cellar and Shed floor
Phase 4 - Preparing to fabricate the shed
Phase 5 - Erecting the shed
Phase 6 - Fitting out the inside, Workshop area, hobby room and cellar.
For more information on each of the phases, please click on the link to each phase.
The Shed project has cause some sleepless nights over the last year, with many delays due to various things and it was always going to be tough to see which arrived first. The Baby (Harry) or the Contractors to start work on the shed. Well Harry Cockburn was born on the 30th March 2005, and all I can say is that he nearly came before the contractors.
Feel free to check out the pictures, and I am sorry I don't have a larger uplink pipe, but it is just a budget thing, and I have to spend the money getting the shed finished, as well all the other projects that just got them selves on the list as well. :)
Last updated on Wednesday, 20 September, 2006